My Turn to be Strong
by IronicNarwhal
Summary: Power outages in Japan are a rare thing, and even so Shuichi thinks nothing of this one. Until he goes into Eiri's office to request usage of the blonde's lighter, amid ungodly claps of thunder echoing from the outside world.


**Notes**: Once, not so long ago, (Last Monday during fifth period, to be exact…) I started thinking about how cliché the old thunderstorm plot is getting. You want a cute, fluffy story where there's a lot of adorable, sweet action for a normally indifferent couple—oh, hey! We'll make the uke afraid of thunderstorms. And trust me, I love that plot. I've been guilty of using and reusing it. But it's getting a little tired. So I thought to myself—why not put a new, tasty spin on the same old comfort food we know and love?

Thus, this was borne. I tried very hard to keep it in character, but it was understandably hard for the situation I put myself in. In any case, I hope you enjoy!

**Pairing**: Yuki/Shuichi

**Warnings**: Shonen-ai, swearing, possible OOCness

**Summary**: Power outages in Japan are a rare thing, and even so Shuichi thinks nothing of this one. Until he goes into Eiri's office to request usage of the blonde's lighter, amid ungodly claps of thunder echoing from the outside world.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Gravitation. Eiri, Shuichi, and all other characters and concepts belong to Maki Murakami and her associates.

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My Turn to be Strong

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"Looks like it's gonna rain," Hiro remarked offhandedly one gloomy Friday afternoon. They were in a larger studio, one of the only ones in the NG Pro building that actually had windows. The members of Bad Luck liked this studio for that reason. It relieved the anxious feeling that being cooped up in a huge building all day gave a person. That feeling that you'll never see daylight again.

At the moment, however, there was no sun shining in through that window. It was heavily overcast and looking quite nasty and miserable. Hiro was the first to notice, with a glance outside as he opened the window so he could sneak a smoke. But the day's overall mood seemed to be seeping into Bad Luck as well. Everyone seemed kind of droopy and unwilling to move today, and Hiro was no exception to it. He'd feel quite happy to stay on the windowpane for the next few hours, until the rain passed over.

At the feel of an abnormal coolness passing over his bare arms, Shuichi's skin exploded in gooseflesh. He wheeled around and frowned as he found the source of the unpleasant draft. "Hiro! Close it!"

"Just half a cigarette, Shu," Hiro muttered, blowing a line of smoke into the cold air. "You can last five minutes. Put on your jacket if you're so uncomfortable."

Shuichi grumbled to himself, but complied with Hiro's suggestion and pulled on his orange sweatshirt. Hiro was pretty sure he heard him mutter, "Oh, sure, I'll _freeze_ so you can _pollute the planet…_" as the pinkette pulled the hood over his head, but chose to ignore it. He wasn't in the mood for arguing, even if it was just his and Shuichi's usual playful banter.

The rain had a way of making Nakano Hiroshi very lazy.

Shuichi huffed and pulled the draw-strings of his hoodie tight around his head. After yanking on them hard and tying them in a huge, ridiculous double-looped bow under his chin, only his eyes were visible. Those eyes looked up with a glare meant for Hiro, but landed on the sky behind the guitarist first. His eyes widened. "Hey, wow. It's really nasty-looking…"

Hiro hummed out a, "Yeah…" of agreement and took another drag, blowing into the wind once more.

The smell of cigarette smoke reminded Shuichi of his lover, and he remarked, "I hope Eiri will be able to pick me up…"

Just then, a boom of thunder rocked the building. The sky finally opened up, as it had been threatening to do for hours, and rain began pounding the window. Hiro cried, "ACK!" and yanked the window closed quickly, though not in time to save his cigarette from being blown out of his hand and onto the street below. Shuichi was sniggering, but when another boom of thunder practically made him jump out of his skin, it was Hiro's turn to snigger and shake his mane of red hair like a dog, pelting Shuichi with water.

Suguru examined the actions of the two best friends with mild interest, and made sure to stay out of the way until he was sure no harm or water would reach him. Then he joined Hiro next to the window. He muttered, "No point in trying to record until the storm ends. We can't have noises like that as our background track…"

Shuichi slumped against the wall and slid down. "Then what are we gonna do for the next two hours, Fujisaki? We're here to record the last of the single."

"Go home."

It wasn't Suguru that spoke. Under cover of another thunderclap, K had entered. He now stood over the trio, hands in his pockets.

"Eh?" muttered Bad Luck as a whole, staring at their blonde manager in something akin to shock. Claude K. Winchester practically breathed, ate, and drank work. He screamed, "Go-go-go!" in his sleep. Was he really telling them to _go home_ nearly two hours ahead of schedule? Judging by the look on K's face, even he was not happy with the words which had just exited his mouth. So whose orders were these?

The answer arrived in the form of Sakano. The timid producer leaned around the corner and informed, "Seguchi-sama is telling everyone to go home. He says the weather is getting really bad and he doesn't feel comfortable with people being in a high-rise in these conditions. Besides, if you wait too long to go home it might be too nasty to go very far."

Shuichi removed his phone and sighed, "I'm gonna have to call Eiri…" All he could imagine was a royally pissed-off novelist pulling up to the curb, splashing him in the process, and rolling down the window to scream, "Get in the car, you Goddamn brat! Fuck, Shuichi, I don't have time for this shit!"

The vocalist winced at the shout he could already hear in his head. He really hated it when Eiri yelled at him.

"Nah, I'll drive you," muttered Hiro, pulling out his own keys. Shuichi was not pleased with the thought of riding on a motorcycle in the rain, but it was probably much better than invoking the wrath of Uesugi Eiri.

K did not look pleased with the decision, which proved that he had simply been passing on the words of Seguchi Tohma. All the same, he muttered, "Be careful going home. Can't have our guitarist and vocalist taken out by some trucker that can't drive in a downpour."

Shuichi did not need to be told twice. It had been a long week and it was finally Friday. He definitely wanted to get home and relax with Eiri.

He and Hiro took the elevator down to the underground parking garage. Shuichi took a helmet and squeezed it over his pink head. It pushed his fringe in front of his eyes and he muttered to

himself about it. But Hiro remarked that it would keep his hair dry, and his head not smashed in. So Shuichi leaned against his back, moved so Hiro could kick up the kickstand, and held onto his best friend's back as Hiro drove the motorcycle out of the parking garage and into the rain.

The rain only continued to fall harder as they went. Shuichi was incredibly displeased as he felt the sweatshirt he wore soaking to his back. Hiro had a leather jacket, so he didn't experience as much soakage as Shuichi did, but he certainly _heard_ how angry Shuichi was about it, even through the two helmets.

When they finally reached the condo, Shuichi was soaked to the bone. Hiro parked under the garage's awning and allowed Shuichi to hop off the bike. The pinkette yanked the helmet off his head and handed it back to Hiro, then ran a hand through his matted hair and said, "Thanks, Hiro! See you Monday!" before quickly jogging off toward the front door. Hiro stuck around long enough to make sure he got in the door, before turning out of the driveway and continuing on to his own apartment.

The condo was silent. This wasn't odd, though, and Shuichi thought nothing of it as he called, "Li-le-ho!" into the darkness.

He expected at least a call of, "Why are you home, brat?" from the office, but when ever more silence met his ears, he shrugged and continued into the bedroom to change shirts. Eiri was either in a funk, or on a roll. In either situation, silence was an absolute must. If, that was, the popstar did not want to spend the weekend at Hiro's place.

Upon arrival in the bedroom, he flung his orange sweatshirt over a chair to dry, and did the same to his shirt. He'd toss them in the hamper later, when they were dry so they wouldn't mildew. After a moment of consideration, he decided not to change pants—he was wearing shorts, and they were so small that they'd dry soon enough. With this decision made, he dried the back of his neck and his hair with a towel and dug around in the drawer for a shirt, eventually finding a large grey one.

He smiled, because it was Eiri's shirt, and it smelled like him. Granted, that mostly meant it smelled like cigarette smoke. But it also smelled like Eiri's cologne and coffee. And when those three smells were combined in the right quantities, it tricked his mind into believing his lover was near.

It would have to do for tonight, he supposed. Eiri seemed rather inclined to lock himself away from the world for the foreseeable future, and that meant a lonely weekend for Shuichi. He wondered if he'd missed Eiri telling him he had a deadline near, because last Shuichi checked he'd just met a deadline and his next one wasn't for two months.

However, Shuichi had a thing about letting time get away from him. For all he knew, Eiri's last deadline had been two months ago instead of two weeks.

Eiri's shirt was one of those shapeless, grey ones that he wore when being lazy around the house. It was large on Eiri, and Shuichi absolutely drowned in it. Shuichi was completely fine with this, though, and bent over to shake his damp, matted hair out. In the back of his mind, he recalled all the times when he'd put on these shorts after a shower and Eiri would chuckle in that way that said he'd very much appreciate it if Shuichi would 'touch his toes' for him. And when he heard that chuckle, he'd unabashedly bend over under the guise of shaking his hair out.

No one ever said Shindou Shuichi had shame. He _knew_ Eiri liked his legs and bum. And oh, did he use this to his advantage every chance he got.

Once he was happy with the state of his hair, Shuichi stood up straight and drifted out of the bedroom. On a whim, he sidetracked to the office. If he was incredibly quiet, maybe he could poke his head in and out without Eiri noticing.

With quiet steps, he approached the door and carefully eased it open. He smiled slightly at the sight of Eiri sitting at the desk, staring blankly at the computer. His hands were on the arms of the office chair, gripping them, and he was biting his lip. It was a face Shuichi had come to know as Eiri's lost-in-thought face. That probably explained why he hadn't heard Shuichi's call when he came home. He'd been too busy thinking to hear him.

Shuichi slunk back out of the room just as quietly as he'd come. The urge to speak would only increase if he stood there, so he had to get out before he did so and interrupted Eiri's very precise thought process.

Quietly, he padded to the kitchen, sliding on his socks. He was pretty much starving.

Thunder and lighting continued to rock the condo, but Shuichi paid it little mind. He'd never minded thunder; he actually found it kind of relaxing. He had it as a recording on a 'soothing nature sounds' (Or something to that effect) machine Maiko had given him to sleep to when he moved into his own apartment, knowing he couldn't sleep without something to listen to. Eiri wouldn't let him sleep with it on, though, so it had found a home gathering dust at the top of their closet.

In any case, he continued to make himself something to eat (A cup of instant noodles, as it were) and paid no attention to the goings on of Mother Nature outside.

That was, until the lights started flickering.

He looked up in surprise, halfway through pouring the water into his instant ramen, when the overhead light on the stove flickered, and the house went strangely silent for a few moments as everything electric stopped working. It came back on after only a few seconds of blackness, but it was enough to worry Shuichi. It had been quite a long time since they'd had a blackout in this part of town—the last time, if Shuichi recalled, was two years ago around July. But it would probably be best to get the candles, just in case.

He finished his noodle cup and stuck a pair of chopsticks in it, holding it up to his mouth and shoveling a first bite in as he migrated down the hall, to the closet he knew held the candles. It was hard to juggle the food and the candles, but eventually Shuichi managed it by holding a candle each in the spaces between the fingers on his left hand.

He'd just reached the living room and dropped the candles onto the coffee table when the power flickered, shone brightly for a moment, and blew. Shuichi sighed as the condo was fully plunged into darkness, and tentatively called, "Eiri?" into the office.

There was no response.

"Eiri, the power went out." He waited for a moment, to see if Eiri would call back, and added, "I need your lighter, babe…" when none was given. Again, though, the novelist did not reply.

Shuichi sighed and got up. He really didn't want to interrupt, but if he wanted to light these candles, he'd need Eiri's lighter. Their stove was electric.

"Eiri, I need your—" Shuichi pushed the door open, and was immediately interrupted by a huge clap of thunder. He jumped, almost falling when his feet failed to regain traction upon his decent. He caught himself on the doorknob, thankfully, but something about it just grated on his already frayed nerves. Suddenly, he _really_ wasn't in the mood for anymore of Eiri's antisocial behavior. Feeling a little pissed off—Couldn't Eiri pull himself away from the thrice-damned computer to answer Shuichi when the _power had just gone out_?—he cried, "Eiri! I need your Goddamned lighter!" while slamming the door back against the wall.

"Shut up, Shuichi!"

Well, fuck that. Shuichi rounded on his lover, in absolutely no mood to get any sort of grief when he'd been tip-toeing around the place for an hour. "Well _excuse me_, but the power just—"

His mouth clicked shut quickly, out of shock and confusion over what he was seeing. The sight of his lover sitting with his hands jammed over his ears like some frightened little kid was not one that computed in Shindou Shuichi's mind.

"E-Eiri? Are…you okay?" Shuichi stepped quietly across the floor, his hands folded in front of him.

"I'm fine," Eiri muttered, his voice gruff. Another clap of thunder shook the walls, echoing for almost twenty seconds, and Eiri squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He gasped, "Just…go away, Shu."

"Eiri," whispered Shuichi, continuing to move across the floor. He held a hand out to his lover, which made contact with his shoulder. Eiri jumped, swiping at the hand, but Shuichi knelt and tried to look at Eiri's face from where he had it bowed, his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands. He breathed, "Are you okay, babe?"

"Yes." It sounded like the back of Eiri's throat was clogged. Like he was trying to hold something back.

"No you're not." He stood up and pulled Eiri's hands away from his ears—to tremendous resistance from the blond—so he could slide into his lover's lap. He rested his head against Eiri's shoulder and murmured, "What's wrong?" He couldn't imagine what was making his stoic, cold lover act like this. It was usually Shuichi who broke down randomly. Not Eiri. Never Eiri.

This was all too reminiscent of that time years ago…that first time he'd seen Eiri cry. The only time.

The thunder clapped again, and Eiri jumped, and suddenly everything clicked. Shuichi's eyes and widened and he pulled Eiri's face to look at him. He whispered, "You're afraid of the thunder, aren't you Eiri?"

There was no reply, and Eiri tried very hard to turn his face away. But Shuichi held fast, staring deeply into Eiri's guarded eyes. He shifted a little, so he was straddling Eiri's lap and the novelist had no choice but to look him in the eye. Then he whispered, "Eiri, it's okay. I'm here."

"I…I'm not…" Eiri gritted his teeth, thunder rocking the house once more. He was shaking hard, and it was so obvious he was scared out of his mind and angry about it at the same time. Angry at himself for being scared, and angry at the fact that Shuichi was seeing him like this. Angry that he was acting so weak in front of someone who believed him to be the very epitome of strength and calm-cool-collectedness.

Shuichi released his face and wrapped both arms around Eiri's neck, holing tightly and whispering, "It's okay if you are. I don't care." He buried his face in Eiri's neck and was silent for quite a while, listening to the rain pound on the walls. He felt Eiri brace himself as lightening struck, and Shuichi used his own small hands to cover Eiri's ears as the proceeding thunder echoed in the otherwise quiet night.

Eiri kept trying to push him away, and Shuichi knew what was going through his mind: _I don't want you to see me like this…it's embarrassing…_

And that was why Shuichi stayed silent. He didn't say anything about it. He didn't ask Eiri _why_ the thunder was scaring him. He didn't ask why Eiri had never told him. He didn't even ask if there was anything he could do to make it better. All he did was continue to repeating the same two word phrase, over and over again. "I'm here."

Because that sentence spoke so many others, underneath and in the subtext Shuichi _knew_ Eiri knew how to read. _You're okay. I don't know how often you've had to sit here, alone and scared, but you won't be doing it anymore! Shindou Shuichi's gonna make sure of it! I love you and you don't have to be scared like this anymore, because I'll be here…_

It was kind of ironic how even Shuichi's thoughts babbled with delusions of heroism. The pinkette rocked them back and forth, as Eiri shook and eventually wrapped his arms around Shuichi's back. Clinging and miserable, the usually level-headed novelist buried his face in his small lover's shoulder and tried to hold back tears of fright.

Neither really knew how long they sat there. Only that, once the storm calmed down a bit and the thunder stopped being so intense, Shuichi pulled back slightly, slid out of Eiri's lap and whispered, "Eiri? Let's go to bed. The storm will be over in the morning."

Eiri turned his head down and got up out of his seat, wiping his face. He refused to meet Shuichi's eyes until they got to the bedroom. There, he threw off his shirt, sat on the bed, and cleared his throat. Shuichi sat next to him, placing two fingers underneath his lover's chin and forcing his head upward. Eiri, after a moment, didn't resist and willingly met Shuichi's eyes. Shuichi gasped when all he saw in the golden eyes was embarrassment and dejection as Eiri mumbled, "Sorry."

Shuichi let out a surprised breath and whispered, "Oh, Eiri!" before looping his arms around the blonde's neck. He kissed him all over his face; cheeks, eyelids, forehead, jaw, lips. "Eiri! It's not your fault! Everyone's afraid of something. Everyone, I don't care who you are. Everyone out there has something that just _petrifies_ them. It's human nature! You're afraid of thunderstorms; I'm afraid of heights. I get woozy on a stepstool. It's totally okay!"

Perhaps Shuichi's words were enough to crack his resistance, or maybe the title wave had just gotten too strong to hold back. Either way, the inevitable took place and the floodgates opened; Eiri sobbed in Shuichi's neck, hugging him tightly. Shuichi laid them back, resting Eiri's head against his chest and making soothing hushes to comfort Eiri. He ran his hands through the blond hair, threading his long fingers through gently and feeling the soft strands against his fingers. He closed his eyes and hummed softly, gently.

"When I was younger," Shuichi began, once Eiri was a little calmer. He didn't begrudge Eiri this episode; oh, no. It was nothing like that. Eiri was so pent-up, this release of emotion was very good for him. Another ulcer was fast approaching if his novelist didn't loosen up a bit.

But, at this point, he felt compelled to fill the silence. Prolong Eiri's inevitable sinking back into himself, completely ashamed for his actions. "I had this reoccurring nightmare…I was in a dark room; just me and the pitch blackness. And somehow, even though it was never said, I knew that I was trapped in that room and there was no way to get out. I knew that I was going to die in there, in the darkness, completely alone. And I'd always wake up screaming."

Eiri made a small grunt in acknowledgement of Shuichi's words, not wanting the brat to ask, "Are you listening, Eiri?" in his obnoxious way, but not wanting to speak right now, either. With his current mood, it would probably only send him into more tears. And he'd just die if that happened.

"Well…I was afraid of the dark for a long time because of that dream, and…" He stopped, because more thunder was booming outside and Eiri gasped against his neck. He shushed him and hummed a little more, having gotten into the swing of things quite quickly.

There were certain things Shuichi was a natural at. Singing and comforting were a few of them.

"Anyway," Shuichi sighed. "I was afraid of the dark. I didn't really think a lot of it; I slept with a nightlight all through high school…or, at least the hall light on. I totally freaked out during power outages, like this one…But I thought it was normal. But then, there was this girl I dated in my second year of high school…not the nicest girl ever, now I think about it, but I was young and stupid."

"You're still young and stupid," Eiri muttered.

Shuichi smiled; Eiri was finally reentering the world of the semi-coherent, it would seem. Good, because he was really starting to worry if Eiri was having some sort of nervous breakdown. "True, but I was even _younger _and _stupider_ then. Anyway, we went on a date one night and it started storming. So we ran back to her place—her parents were out, they weren't really home that much in the first place. We were…you know…"

"You've had sex with a girl, brat?" Eiri muttered. He moved a bit, and Shuichi realized after an instant that Eiri was trying to get him to move up. Their legs were still hanging off the edge of the bed, and it was getting a bit uncomfortable. Shuichi broke away to crawl up to the pillows, waited for Eiri, and laid down on top of him. This way he could see Eiri's face.

"I never said that," Shuichi laughed, sticking out his tongue. "You know I was a virgin when I met you." He sighed and swiped a thumb under Eiri's eye. The role reversal was not lost on him; usually this was Eiri's move. He continued, as he rubbed their noses together, "Anyway, Mr. Interrupter, the power went out while I was with this girl. And the second the lights went out, I freaked. All of a sudden all I could think about was that dream and how scared it made me. The fear was a like this big ball of fire that just grew and grew until I could feel it on every nerve ending. I couldn't get enough breath, I couldn't think straight.

"She asked me what was wrong. All I could say was, "I'm really afraid of the dark. Can you find a candle?" And she just stared at me for a long time, laughed, and said, "You've got to be kidding me." I said no, and started crying. She said I was a fucking pansy and that she couldn't believe I was afraid of the dark at the age of sixteen. Then she kicked me out and I walked home in the dark. Or, tried. I ended up calling Hiro and he came and picked me up."

There was a long stretch of silence after this admission, until Eiri raised an eyebrow and mumbled, "So what changed?"

"Hm?"

"Why aren't you afraid of the dark anymore?"

Shuichi considered the question for a moment, wondering how to respond, before he pecked Eiri's chin and mumbled, "Well…I still am."

Eiri frowned. "What do you mean? You can sleep with the lights off, now. The power's out and you're not spazing."

The pinkette laughed and mumbled, "Well, the fear isn't _as bad_ as it used to be. Facing your fears is the best way to get over them, right? And living alone—for the few months I did, anyway, before I moved in with you—and being a performer that gets stuck in pitch-black, backstage areas all the time has kind of taught me to deal with it. But it still scares me.

"I guess…I realized that, as long as I have someone who cares about me next to me, I'll be okay and the dark I'm afraid will hurt me, as irrational as it is, won't be able to get to me." He kissed Eiri's lips and continued in a quiet mumble, "When I'm backstage, Hiro and Suguru and the rest are there and I don't feel alone. At night, when I'm sleeping…You're sleeping next to me and I'm not afraid because you're right there and, after all this time, I've finally realized that you're not gonna go anywhere."

It took a few moments for Eiri to digest these words, and once he did, he stared up at Shuichi and muttered, "I reminds me of gunshots."

"_Nani_?"

"Thunder. It…reminds me of gunshots." He turned his head to the side, considering. "It's strange…because other loud sounds don't do it. A car backfiring, explosions on television…they all sound a helluva lot more like gunshots than thunder does but, for some reason…Thunder is the only thing that gets me like this."

Shuichi smiled slightly and said, "Some things are like that. There are triggers—sounds, smells, sights. People who have had experiences like you…they never really know what's going to set them off. Only that it's going to happen." He turned his eyes down and added, "And that, when it does, they have someone to reassure them that everything's gonna be okay. Do you have one, Eiri?"

Eiri snorted and muttered, "Tohma's always _trying_ to be that person. But for some reason his _comforting_ always comes off as so fucking condescending. It doesn't make me feel any better. Just makes me feel weak."

"I'm sure he doesn't mean it."

"I know that, brat," sighed Eiri. They moved again, onto their sides because Eiri was loosing feeling in both arms from having to support Shuichi's weight for so long.

As Shuichi made himself comfortable by throwing a leg over Eiri's hip, Eiri hid his face in Shuichi's hair once again and the pinkette mumbled, "You're not weak, Eiri. You know that, right?"

Eiri was silent.

"You might feel weak when you're scared and crying…everyone does. But, in the long run, it just makes you stronger." He sighed and kissed the blonde hair on his shoulder. "I love you a lot. Do you know _that_?"

A snort into his shoulder and some garbled mumbling that sounded a lot like, "How could I forget?"

Shuichi smiled and made his arms that much tighter, closing his eyes. "No one can be strong all the time. I know that I'm almost never strong—you tell me that every day. But I have my moments, even you have to admit that." An image of standing up to Aizawa and his goons appeared behind violet eyes, and Shuichi pointedly ignored the flash of memory. "So, I just want you to know that, if you'll let me, I'll be the person for you to go to. You don't have to be alone anymore, when you're like this. I honestly don't know how you've managed to hide this from me, but I know you were doing it on purpose." He squeezed Eiri the tightest yet and turned his face into the blond head. "Please don't hide from me any longer. Please? You…you don't have to be strong because of me. Sometimes, I have to be strong for you. That's what a relationship _is_."

The thought of his partner cooped up his office, alone and terrified, was enough to bring tears to Shuichi's eyes. He couldn't stand it.

"Shu…," Eiri mumbled. But he didn't continue, only hugging Shuichi just as hard, for once an active participant in the death-grip rather than an unwilling victim. Against a tan neck, he whispered, "I didn't think you'd understand. I thought you'd…"

"Think you were weak," Shuichi mumbled. He made Eiri look him in the eyes again, as the blond was so unwilling to do tonight. "Gosh, Eiri. What's the big deal with being tough? I haven't been tough a day in my life and I live with it. Is it about your image?"

The silence was all he needed.

"Oh." Shuichi laughed; really laughed. His slim form writhed with it. "Oh, Eiri! You really think _I_ care about your image? I couldn't give less of a shit! You're always gonna be the coolest thing ever, babe. Being afraid of thunder could never change that." He smirked and added, "In fact, it makes you cooler. A one-dimensional tough guy gets boring."

Eiri looked upset for a second, then his eyes softened and his lips quirked up in a small smirk. "_Baka._"

"Yeah," sighed Shuichi, snuggling down. "But I'm your _baka_."

There was silence for a few moments, and Shuichi suddenly realized why. "Hey…the thunder stopped."

"It did?" Eiri frowned, looking up at the ceiling as if to prove it to himself. "Wow, you're right…I didn't even notice."

Shuichi giggled and considered Operation: Comfort Eiri a success on all counts. A glance over at the nightstand told him it was midnight. They'd been sitting here for almost two hours. "Wow…it's late."

"Yeah."

They hunkered down wordlessly, listening to the rain that pelted the windows even with the absence of thunder. The power would come back on in a few hours, and when that happened Eiri would probably tell Shuichi to go turn all the lights in the house off. But for now, they prepared for a few hours of peaceful slumber.

"Shuichi?"

Shuichi inhaled deeply, having been roused from a more than half asleep state, and slurred, "Wh-ha-t?"

A kiss landed on his pink lips, and Eiri whispered, "Thank you…" Then, after a second, "You're right, you know."

"Mmm? 'Bou wha?" he closed his eyes, resting back against the pillows. He was almost asleep when he heard: "I do feel safe with you."

Shuichi fell asleep with a smile on his lips and a big swell in his heart.

**

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End Story

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**

A/N: OH DEAR GOD WHY? I let that get away from me a lot…Gar. I was going somewhere with it—I swear I was! But then I got distracted and came back to it, and fuck I lost _everything_ I was gonna say. I was so pissed about it, too! But I ended it, because I would have beaten myself up if I didn't. I hope you liked it, though.

The inspiration for Eiri's characterization—which I know was probably terribly OOC—came from that episode—nine, maybe?—just after Eiri has been approached by Aizawa and Shuichi's busted through the wall and kicked Aizawa out. I suppose you'll all better know it as, "That scene where Eiri cries—KAWAII!" But for the benefit of people who haven't memorized every Moi-Eiri scene (I'm not saying I haven't…I most definitely have. ;D) that's where it was.

I really hoped you liked this, even though it _did_ ramble quite a bit. I'm a wordy person. Wordy!

**Would you like to give a cookie to a character!**

I give **Yaoi Sakka** credit for coming up with this, named The Cookie Thing. Basically, you get one cookie per chapter which you can give to any character of your choosing. (For example: "(Random review stuff) And I would like to give a cookie to _ because _!") There are a few rules, however:

1.) One cookie per review.

2.) You can split the cookie between however many characters you like (Like half to Yuki, half to Shuichi, or a third each to Shuichi, Yuki, and Hiro, whatever.)

The random review stuff is even optional. **PLEASE GIVE SOMEONE A COOKIE! THE LIST ON MY PROFILE IS SO EMPTY! THESE CHARACTERS WANT COOKIES! LOOK AT SHUICHI! HE'D VERY MUCH LIKE A COOOKIIIIIIE!**

Okay…I'm done spazing. I hope you liked that. XD

-Lynn


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